Synesthesia

Purple (Josh)

I watched as the love of my life relaxed into a kiss. I expected her to tense up, to push away, to do something. Instead, her shoulders sagged, her hands gone limp. Closing her eyes, she leaned into Savannah. Not only was she letting herself be kissed, but she was kissing back. My girlfriend was kissing my sister. Christina finally pulled away, a faint smile on her lips.
"What the hell, Savannah? That's my girlfriend!" I yelled, loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
Christina turned around, looking me straight in the eye. She let out a choked "I'm sorry," before her eyes filled with tears and her shoulders jumped with her sobs.
Savannah stood on the walkway, dumbfounded. She looked around, basking in victory. Her eyes landed on Chris, her whole body wracked with shudders. I let out a string of curses, calling her everything that I could think of.
"Chris brought color to my life! She made my life worth something! You're just a stealing, lying, worthless sister that has done nothing but turn my life into hell! She filled my monochrome world with color. You ruin everything, taking everything I have like it's your own. You always get what you want and I get what's left. I'm not a dog, I don't need your leftovers. What I need is for you to stop ruining my life!" I screamed, almost begging someone to stop me. I saw the neighbor's' lights flicker on and the curtains were drawn aside to see what the noise was about. Good, I thought, let there be an audience. Let them see how awful Savannah is. Let them see how she betrayed me.
Savannah's eyes broke away from Christina. She made eye contact with me, looking like a deer in the headlights. Eyes wide and mouth open she whimpered, "Angel."
"What?" I shouted at Savannah. "You just kissed my girlfriend and all you say is 'angel'? You had better choose your words very wisely from now on."
Kneeling beside Christina, Savannah said "Your girlfriend is glowing. She looks like an angel. Is this what you see when you see her?" Her voice was small, almost like a scared child. Confused and mad, I felt my eyebrows start twitching. I yelled back a reply, asking her what in the world she meant by that. "Christina is," she paused, finding the right words. "She's surrounded by white light. She looks like she's glowing, like an angel."
At this, Chris glanced up at me, eyes red and puffy from crying. Chris slowly pulled herself together and walked back to the car, muttering "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," over and over. I held my head in my hands, grasping my hair so hard that I might have pulled it out. My parents opened to the door to see what all the yelling was about.
"Hey, Savannah, why don't you come back inside. Josh, are you heading home?" my mother spoke in her soft voice, motioning Savannah inside. Still dazed, she looked back over her shoulder at Christina in the car. I turned around and walked back to the car coldly. I ripped the door open and shut it behind me with a slam.
Christina sat with her knees to her chest, still murmuring apologies endlessly.
"I loved you. I really did. I just don't understand," I said, cool as ice. Chris's voice caught, her tears gleaming in the night light.
The drive home was met with silence. I felt a physical pain in my chest whenever I looked at her because the colors never once faltered. The shadows of the night sky turned her hair into a navy mass of waves, her already pale skin glowed in the bright white moon. The road was empty, no headlights flashed in front of us, no sound was uttered throughout the streets. The girl who likes my sister and I, tucked away under a sheath of night. It was as if we were hiding from the moon, like the last two people on earth.

A week had passed and we had barely spoken. Brendon and Rachel tried to comfort me, but nothing worked. Chris hadn't spoken to anyone since that night, not even Rachel. I tried to talk to Savannah but she was basically nonexistent, even before the kiss.
Finally, nine days after that dreadful night, my phone started ringing. It was about 8:00pm and I had just sat down to eat dinner. Turning my phone around so I could see the screen, I let out a sigh of relief. The caller ID read, "Chris."
My heart dropped down to my throat. I took a deep breath and answered the phone with a calm, "Hello."
"Hey," there was a long pause, "I know you probably don't want to hear from me, but I really am sorry. What I did was stupid and rude and I should have controlled myself." Chris sounded congested, but whether from crying or sickness I couldn't tell.
"It's fine. Savannah is certainly overpowering," I managed a dull laugh.
"Thank you so much. Hearing you say that makes me feel a lot better. I just... I just don't think I can go back," Chris choked. I told her I felt the same way and that I just couldn't get the image of her kissing my sister out of my head. Chris let out a small groan.
Taking a deep breath I answered, "Some part of me will always love you and I hope you never forget me. Have a good night, Chris." She whispered a goodbye and hung up. I exhaled slowly and leaned back in my chair. Brendon stared intently at me from across the table and raised his eyebrows.
"You good, bro?" I nodded and set my phone down. "You are gonna see her again, you know. If she's with Savannah, she's gonna keep coming to family stuff." I laughed and shook my head, glad that everything was officially settled.
"I'm just glad she called me back."